Alpha/Beta Testing

If you are interested in beta testing War to the Core, then please start by joining our Facebook group and Discord channel so we can help you get started.

These instructions are for beta testing. If you were looking for the official public download, then you can grab it from the Microsoft app store.
Our latest beta build can be downloaded from AppCenter, see details below.
Join our Discord server here to meet other players and the dev team. We can also help you there if you are running into any issues installing the game.

If you are here, then you are interested in downloading an early release build of our game that is not up on the official stores yet. This will have our latest and greatest features (as well as run on more platforms), but there are some additional steps that are required to get the game running on your device.

Windows 10: This is our recommended platform. You’ll be able to run the UWP, Gameroom, and Steam builds on Windows 10.

Windows 7/8.1: Our UWP build won’t work, but you can still use Steam and Gameroom builds. You can try running Windows 10 on a VM to test the UWP build (you can grab an evaluation VM from Microsoft directly: here).

Mac: If you are unfortunate enough to be using a Mac, then all the above won’t work. However, on some recent Mac devices there may still be some hope. If your device is on the supported list, you can use Boot Camp to run Windows 10 side-by-side your Mac OS without affecting your Mac files. Follow Apple’s official instructions here. Once you get Windows 10 running on your Mac, you’ll be able to use any of our builds just fine. Older Mac devices can install older versions of Windows 7 or 8.1 which would enable Steam or Gameroom. Find out more details here.

Linux: Seriously?! Who plays video games on a Linux?

Installing the game

Windows Store (UWP)

The process to run our game app is called Side-loading and it requires some extra steps the first time you do it.

HockeyApp (Legacy)

Right-click on “Add-AppDevPackage.ps1” and choose “Run with PowerShell” (See troubleshooting below if you don’t see that option)

If you haven’t set the PS execution policy previously, it will prompt you to change it. Go ahead and accept the change.
If this is your first time to side-load, you may be prompted to acquire a dev license. This is free and all you need to do is provide your credentials and follow the link that says “settings for developers” which should take you to the “Updates & Security Settings page” at the section titled “For Developers” where you should set “Use Developer Settings” to “Developer Mode”.

If you have a previous version, it may sometimes be necessary to uninstall it first before installing a private build.

Once installed you should find the app on your start menu ready to run.

For future versions, you only need to run step #3 to update your copy.

Steam

If you haven’t already done so, supply us with your Steam username and email address so we can add you to our private testers pool.

Starting the game

When the game starts, you need to select a server to connect to. If you are part of the development team or are testing something that is being worked on choose the “Secondary” server. This is the most up to date (and buggiest) server you can connect to. It will go down frequently without warning. If you want to test the latest stable version, then connect to the “Production” server. Finally, if you are testing a new feature that didn’t make it to production yet then choose “Staging” if it is available. In most cases, you should be testing on Production.

Once you’re authenticated, you should be able to login to the lobby, invite players to a new battle and start playing. Note that you can only start a battle if you have at least one opponent. If you want to find someone to join you for a test session, you can grab interested testers from our Discord channel or Facebook group.

Capturing Screenshots and Videos

To record a video while the game is running on Windows 10, we recommend using Windows Captures. Use the Windows Game Bar (Default shortcut Win+G) then click the recording icon, or directly use the video recording shortcut (Default Win+Alt+R). To capture a screenshot use Win+Alt+Print Screen (or whatever you changed the shortcut to).

Sometimes the thing you are interested in recording was unexpected. In these cases, you can capture things in the past using the “Record That” option, but only if you enabled background recording first.

To enable background recording go to “Settings->Gaming->Captures” in Windows then configure the background recording. Note: this will impact performance, so if you are on a low-end device you probably don’t want to enable it.

Sending game logs

To help us find bugs and fix them, you may need to send us log files. The easiest way to do this is by clicking on the feedback icon in the game and selecting to include logs. Alternatively you can send it manually by following these steps:

If you are running the Windows standalone version (i.e. not the app), you’ll also need to create an empty folder called “C:\Temp” on the root of your C: drive where logs will be saved.

Sending your logs:
The game will save a log file that you can send directly to the devs after a test session.
Open this path in file explorer “%AppData%\..\Local\Packages\” and look for the ForgottenMines.WartotheCore package then navigate to LocalState and locate the log file(s). Note: If you’re running the stand alone version, then the log files will be in C:\Temp instead.

Troubleshooting

If you are running into issues installing the game, then try the steps below for the known problems. You can also ask us directly on our Discord server.

If you don’t see a “Run with PowerShell option” in the context menu, you might have changed the file associations or don’t have PS installed (in the latter case just install it by going to “Programs and Featues” and selecting “Turn Windows features on or off” and enabling PowerShell).

If PowerShell is installed and you’re still not getting the option, then run PowerShell ISE as administrator (this is important if it’s the first time). If this is the first time, then type “Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned” in the lower (blue) part of the editor and press enter then accept the prompt. After that you can open the Add-AppDevPackage.ps1 file (from File menu->Open) then hit the green “Play” arrow in the toolbar to start the execution.

If PowerShell fails to acquire developer license. Ensure that you have enabled developer mode as per the instructions above. You can also try running this command “Show-WindowsDeveloperLicenseRegistration” in PowerShell.

If you get a PowerShell shell error saying that “running scripts is disabled on this system” then run this command as admin: “Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned”

If you get an error like “DEPLOYMENT FAILED WITH HRESULT: 0X800B0109, A CERTIFICATE CHAIN PROCESSED, BUT TERMINATED IN A ROOT CERTIFICATE WHICH IS NOT TRUSTED BY THE TRUST PROVIDER” then locate the .cer file in the folder you unzipped and open it. If you get a warning, click open then install the certificate to Local Machine (this will require admin rights). Select “Place all certificates in the following store” and then hit “Browse” then select “Trusted Root Certification Authorities.” and finish the prompts. Once you are done try re-running the ps1 file again.

If you cannot login using Steam, make sure that we have added you to our private testers pool and that the Steam app is running and you are logged in. If you logged in to Steam after starting the game, you will need to restart the game.